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- MEA Tech & Startup Digest: Issue #103
MEA Tech & Startup Digest: Issue #103
Mehmet Gonullu
January 26, 2025
Welcome to the 103rd edition of “The CTO Show’s MEA Tech & Startup Digest”!
Saudi Arabia's record-breaking VC landscape, strategic expansions across MENA, and groundbreaking initiatives in education and AI - this week's digest captures the pulse of our region's tech evolution.
Whether you're one of our 2,309 subscribers or new to our community, we're excited to share these valuable insights into tech, startups, and entrepreneurship.
Grab your coffee and let's unpack what's making headlines!
🌟 Feature Stories: Major Moves
• Saudi Arabia's VC Milestone
· Record 178 VC deals in 2024, leading MENA with 31% market share
· 34% increase in sub-$100M funding deals year-over-year
· E-commerce leads with 33% capital deployment 🔗 Read More
• Strategic Fund Launches
· 500 Global launches MENA-focused fund backed by Saudi investors 🔗 Read More
· MEVP targets $150M for fourth fund with Saudi LPs 🔗 Read More
💰 Notable Funding Rounds
• Growth & Series
· Saudi's Rize secures $35M Series A for rent-now-pay-later solution 🔗 Read More
· UAE's Pluto raises $4.1M pre-Series A for fintech expansion 🔗 Read More
· MoneyHash closes $5.2M to streamline MENA payments 🔗 Read More
· UAE's Ogram secures $3M for on-demand staffing 🔗 Read More
• Early Stage & Seed
· Saudi's Arable raises $2.55M for desert hydroponic farming 🔗 Read More
· Oman's Sampo AI raises $750K for e-commerce solutions 🔗 Read More
· Saudi's Wilow secures pre-seed for laundry services 🔗 Read More
· DataQueue raises funding for AI solutions 🔗 Read More
· RetailHub backed by Angelspark for UAE expansion 🔗 Read More
· Egypt's Talent 360 secures investment for Saudi expansion 🔗 Read More
🤝 Strategic Moves & Initiatives
• Regional Growth
· Paymob secures UAE Central Bank license for payment services 🔗 Read More
· Further Ventures invests $5M in crypto exchange GRVT 🔗 Read More
• Impact Initiatives
· Eyouth launches $6M program to upskill 1M African youth 🔗 Read More
· Oraseya Capital leads UAE's most active investor list with 24 investments 🔗 Read More
AI is eating the world
🔍 Worth checking out:
- ChatLLM from Abacus.AI , ChatLLM is your all-in-one super-assistant with access to all the state-of-the-art LLMs, web search, voice and vision capabilities. It includes Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini 2.0, DeepSeek, and more…
- DeepSeek-R1-Zero was introduced, trained solely via large-scale reinforcement learning (RL) without relying on supervised fine-tuning (SFT).
- OpenAI has launched a research preview of “Operator,” an AI agent capable of browsing the web and performing tasks. U.S.-based Pro users can try it now at operator.chatgpt.com.
🎙️Episodes Recap:
“Feel the fear and do it anyway.” These powerful words guide Sophia Matveeva ’s mission to empower non-technical professionals in a world dominated by technology. In this episode, Sophia shares her inspiring journey from media and finance to becoming the founder of Tech for Non-Techies, a platform that equips non-tech founders and professionals with the tools they need to thrive in the digital age.
Sophia Matveeva joins The CTO Show with Mehmet to discuss her personal story of overcoming fear, her insights on enabling non-tech founders, and how storytelling can transform your entrepreneurial journey. From prototyping with AI to the importance of asking the right questions, Sophia provides actionable advice for anyone looking to succeed in tech—without a technical background.
“Data security is not just the next big thing—it’s the foundation for the future of cybersecurity.” – Ron Reiter
In this episode of The CTO Show with Mehmet, we sit down with Ron Reiter , Co-Founder and CTO of Sentra, to explore the rapidly evolving world of cybersecurity, particularly focusing on data security. Ron shares his incredible journey as a tech entrepreneur and cybersecurity innovator. Together, we dive into how data security is transforming in the age of cloud computing, AI, and generative models.
Connect & Grow with Us
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Thank You 🙏: Your engagement drives our shared journey forward. Here's to another week of innovation and growth!
Best, Mehmet